To Tom’s credit, he and Julia spent an enjoyable day together. The regulars at Kinfolks restaurant welcomed her gladly, and he was able to brag to them about how well she was doing in graduate school and how she was applying to Harvard for her PhD.

He took her for a drive around town to see some of the new building projects, pointing out how Selinsgrove had grown even during her short absence. And he brought her to a first-aid training session that was being hosted at the fire house so that his colleagues could tell her how much her old man talked about her. Afterward, they went grocery shopping, because for various reasons Tom didn’t keep a lot of food in the house. Later that afternoon, he skipped the football game so that they could watch an old movie together. Yes, it was the director’s cut of Blade Runner, but it was a film that they both wanted to see, and they quite enjoyed it.

When it was over, Julia handed him a beer, thus encouraging him to watch football while she made Grace’s famous chicken Kiev for dinner.

Finally alone, she sent a short text to Gabriel:

G, Just making Grace’s chicken Kiev and a lemon meringue pie for Dad.

He’s watching football. Hope you’re having a great day.

I’ll call you around 6:30. Your Julia. XO

A few minutes later, while Julia was in the middle of assembling two casseroles of chicken Kiev, one for that evening and one for Tom to freeze, her iPhone chirped with an incoming text:

My Julia, I’ve missed you. We’re watching football too.

R and A have kissed and made up and set a date.

Richard is something of a miracle worker, I think, or perhaps it was you?

You don’t know what it means to me to hear you say that you are mine.

Looking forward to your call. I am yours, Gabriel XO

Julia fairly floated in the kitchen, buoyed as she was by Gabriel’s words and the moments they’d shared the previous night. Her dream was going to come true. After years of dreaming, Gabriel was going to be her first.

All the tears and trouble and the humiliation with Simon were now forgotten. She’d waited for the man she loved, and now she was going to have the first time she’d always desired. And in Florence, of all places. She had many things to be thankful for, including the string of pearls around her neck. She was pretty sure that Grace had had a hand in everything, and she silently whispered her thanks.

When she was finished with her preparations, Julia placed one of the casseroles of chicken Kiev in the oven and walked the second one down to the basement. Upon opening the freezer, she was surprised to find a lot of pre-made meals, stored in Tupperware or wrapped in tin foil, many of which had little notes on them signed Love, Deb.

Julia resisted the urge to gag at the sight of them. Deb Lundy was a nice lady, and she seemed to take good care of Tom. But her daughter Natalie was another story, and Julia couldn’t even fathom how upset she would be if Deb and Tom decided to move in together or God forbid, get married. That would be disturbing on more than one level.

Julia pushed all thoughts of Deb and Natalie aside and devoted her full attention to preparing her father’s favorite dessert, which was lemon meringue pie. He tended to prefer the pie that was served at Kinfolks, but that didn’t stop Julia from making her own.

She was just putting the pie into the oven when the telephone rang.

Tom answered it and within seconds was cursing loudly. After a few brief sentences that sounded work-related, he slammed the phone into its cradle and disappeared upstairs. When he returned, he had changed into his uniform.

“Jules, I’ve got to go.”

“What happened?”

“There’s a fire over at the bowling alley. The guys are there already, but they think it might be arson.”

“At Best Bowl? How?”

“That’s what I’m going to find out. I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

He was almost to the door when he stopped and hunched his shoulders.

“I’m sorry I ruined your dinner. I was looking forward to it. See you later.”

Julia watched her father back out of the driveway in his truck and drive away. No doubt Gabriel was already in the middle of dinner with his family, so Julia decided against texting him. She would wait until six-thirty and call him as planned.

When the timer went off, she removed the pie from the oven and inhaled the sweet, citrusy aroma. While she waited for it to cool, she wrapped the chicken Kiev and put it in the refrigerator. It would keep until tomorrow — she’d make a sandwich for dinner.

About fifteen minutes later she heard the front door open and close.

She hurriedly grabbed a plate so that she could serve Tom a piece of pie.

“How did you get away so quickly? The pie is ready right now,” she called to the hallway.

“I’m glad to hear that, Jules.”

At the sound of that voice, the plate slipped through Julia’s fingers, smashing on the old linoleum floor beneath her.

Simon walked into the kitchen and paused, leaning against the doorway with his arms folded across his chest. She stared in shock at a handsome face with blue eyes, framed by short blond hair.

Julia shrieked and sprang toward the doorway, trying to run around him. His large hand shot out to the doorjamb, effectively clotheslining her.

She grabbed onto his arm to prevent herself from falling backward.

“Please,” she begged. “Let me go.”

“Is that any way to greet me? After all this time?” He grinned, withdrawing his arm and standing to his full height of five feet, eleven inches.

Julia cowered just inside the doorway, her eyes darting around nervously.

Simon backed her into the kitchen, his medium-sized frame still intimidating. When he’d successfully cornered her, he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her into a tight bear hug.

“Simon, put me down.” She gasped and squirmed.

He squeezed her more tightly, a wicked grin slicing from ear to ear.

“Come on, Jules. Loosen up.”

She struggled in his arms. “I have a boyfriend. Let go of me!”

“I don’t care if you have a boyfriend.”

He brought his face close to hers, and Julia feared that he was going to kiss her. But he didn’t. He pressed himself against her and allowed his hands to wander, smirking at her discomfort. Eventually, he pulled back.

“Wow, still a cold fish. I would have thought your boyfriend would have fixed that.” His eyes slithered over her lustfully. “At least I know I’m not missing anything. Although it’s still insulting that you’d give it up to him and not to me.”

Julia pulled away from him and sped to the front door, opening it and gesturing outside. “Just go. I don’t want to talk to you. And Dad will be back any minute.”

Simon slowly followed her, like a wolf following a lamb. “Don’t lie to me. I know he just left. Seems they had a bit of trouble over at Best Bowl.

Someone burned the building to the ground. He’ll be gone for hours.”

Julia blinked nervously. “How do you know?”

“I heard it on the radio. I was already in the neighborhood, so it seemed like the perfect time to drop by and see you.”

She tried to appear calm as she weighed her options. She knew there was no way she could outrun him, and she didn’t want to run the risk of angering him by trying. At least if she stayed inside she had a chance of trying to get to her cell phone, which was in the kitchen.

She plastered a fake smile on her face and tried to sound pleasant. “It was nice of you to stop in. But we both know it’s over. You found someone else, you’re happy with her. Let’s leave the past behind, okay?”

She tried to hide her anxiety, and she did a pretty good job of it.

Until he came closer and started running both hands through her long hair, drawing the strands up to his face so that he could sniff them.